High School Lacrosse
REGULAR SEASON
MARCH 25, 2007
Titans' own Mike (Imburgia) makes the big shots
By NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Just give the ball to Mike.
Tom Windham can think of more ideal means to win games. After all, he coaches the Collegiate boys’ lacrosse team, not the Chicago Bulls circa 1998. But that mantra was his best bet in a pinch on Sunday.
Tates Creek had scored four unanswered goals on Collegiate’s Champions Trace field and led the Titans 5-3 in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Then Michael Imburgia took the matter into his own hands, scoring the last three goals - including the winner with 1:20 left - to lift the Titans to a 6-5 win in this showdown of up-and-coming Kentucky Lacrosse Association Division I powers.
“That kind of stuff fuels me,” Imburgia said. “I know something has to happen, and I want to make it happen. I look forward to it.”
Windham admitted that he could not embrace such a scenario wholeheartedly. “That’s a way to get the job done,” he said, “but you have to be able to rely on team offense - not on one guy.”
But he didn’t want to quibble too much on this occasion.
Unlike other lacrosse teams, the Titans didn’t start practicing until after the school’s basketball season ended on Feb. 26. He said that they subsequently lost all of their preseason games handily, and their only other regular-season game before Sunday was a 16-8 win over Sayre last Wednesday.
So Windham was just thrilled to beat Tates Creek (6-2 overall, 1-1 Division 1), which won the 2006 Division 2 title in its second year of existence and already has been touted as the best team in Lexington in its first year in Division 1.
“I’m psyched,” Windham. “I knew they’d be good. I had a scouting report on them. And I was afraid we’d take them too lightly, like it was a Division 2 team coming in here. So if we had lost, I wouldn’t have been surprised.”
Collegiate (2-0) seemed to be headed in that direction in the fourth quarter, despite a promising start in which the Titans held Tates Creek to one goal in the first half and seized a 3-1 lead on the first of Imburgia’s four goals with 9:32 left in the third quarter.
Tates Creek’s Tanner Bond connected with teammate Brandon Disponette on two scoring plays shortly after Imburgia’s goal, tying the game at 3 with 6:21 left in the third. The two worked together again on Disponette’s third goal less than a minute into the fourth quarter, giving Tates Creek its first lead since the opening period, and Bond made it 5-3 with 9:57 to go.
“Earlier in the game, we were playing catch with their goalie,” said Tates Creek coach Andrew Tarter, whose team scored one goal on 14 shots in the first half. “We started making passes to the right guy, the right guy was taking the shots, and he was making them.”
The turn of events lit a fire under Imburgia, whose sudden aggressiveness shifted the momentum again. He created several shots on his own, and his first two fourth-quarter goals were unassisted.
“We had possessed the ball in the first half, and we knew we could do it again,” Collegiate’s Will Hornaday said. “We did, and that’s when Mike took control of the game.”
Tates Creek’s Justin Blantin was whistled for slashing with 1:46 left, a critical call that gave the Titans an extra man for the next minute. Windham immediately called a timeout and set the stage for Imburgia’s game-winning goal, which he scored off Carson Pfeifer’s pass from behind the cage.
“If you have little breakdowns against a good team like Collegiate, they’re going to take advantage of them,” Tarter said.
Linkon Altman scored Collegiate’s first two goals, with assists from Imburgia and Hornaday. Goalie Zach Duck made five saves.
Bond finished with a goal and four assists for Tates Creek. Kent Mulberry also scored a goal, and Ben Schaefer had an assist. Goalie Paul Hauser made eight saves.
Tates Creek played without starting midfielder Evan Wehrle, a 6-foot-4 senior who bruised his collarbone in an 8-7 loss to Culver (Ind.) on Saturday. But Tarter’s team nonetheless pushed the Titans to the brink.
“I’m impressed,” Windham said. “I was impressed with them last year. I voted for Andrew for Coach of the Year. He’s doing a great job there. They’ll easily be top four this season.”
The Titans don’t expect any less of themselves. After the game, Windham told his players that there isn’t a team in the state they can’t beat.
“We want to go to the state finals,” Hornaday said.
That potential obviously interested Pete Schroeder, who coaches the team that Collegiate and Tates Creek both are chasing: three-time defending KLA Division 1 champion Trinity. He was in attendance on Sunday.
“No one is going to take us lightly, for sure,” Windham said.